Introduction to R and RStudio

GVPT399F: Power, Politics, and Data

Learning objectives for today

  1. Introduction to R

  2. Introduction to RStudio

Why R?

  • A versatile programming language

    • All materials used in this course were produced using R, including the website and fancy slides

  • Free and accessible!

R and RStudio

R

R is a free and open-source programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics.

RStudio

RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for the R programming language.

The R skills you will learn

This course will introduce you to both statistics and R. Focusing on R, you will learn how to:

  1. Import your data into R
  2. Tidy your data
  3. Transform it
  4. Visualize it
  5. Model patterns and relationships within it
  6. Communicate your findings.

A Tour of RStudio

Source: R4DS

Summary

This session you:

  1. Learnt about new data science tools to help you conduct replicable and reproducible political science research

  2. Set up your data science tools